Life on Poggitty Farm generally runs pretty smoothly, as the animals go about ploughing the fields, planting the seeds, harvesting the crops, and so on. But one winter things were not going well. It was a long, cold winter, and it seemed to rain for weeks on end.

When it wasn’t raining, it snowed, so that even Bremworth the goat crept inside to sleep, and all the animals huddled round the fire in their big kitchen to try and keep warm.

It was not surprising then, that most of them caught colds and sniffles. It was sad to hear Peck the hen’s sneezles and Grunt the pig’s wheezes, while Piano the cat continuously sneezed her way round the house.

Soon, they began to lose their voices, so they could speak only in whispers, if at all.

“This is most uncomfortable,” grumbled Porridge. And instead of Peter and Bunny the ducks trotting around everywhere with their cheeky quacks, they mumble-quacked, and went to sleep under the coach with their heads tucked under their wings.

It was on one of the first sunny days after all this rain that Bonny the sheep went outside with Tip the dog to have a breath of fresh air and to stretch their legs. They had just go to the first windbreak, when Tip said: “What’s that up there?”

“Looks like a flying rainbow,” said Bonny, squinting. She really needed spectacles, but would not admit it.

“No, it’s a bird,” said Tip, “But I’ve never seen one like that before. What strange colours.”

The bird spotted them and circled down. It landed on a branch just above their heads, cocked its head on one side, and said: “Hello, hello, who are you, who are?”

“Who are you?” asked Tip. “Or rather, what are you?” He had never seen a parrot before in his life.

“I’m Crackers the parrot. Skreek, skreek,” cackled the bird, and it hopped along the branch. “And compared to me, you look pretty scruffy.”

“Maaaaaaaaa,” went Bonny. “It’s been a haaaaaard winter.”

The parrot said, “Not where I come from. Lovely and warm.” Then he spotted the smoke coming from the chimney. “Skreek. Lovely and warm,” and as cheeky as anything flew into the house through an open window.

The arrival of Crackers the parrot caused quite a commotion. Although some of the animals had seen pictures of a parrot in books, only Porridge had seen a real live one. Crackers was a real show-off, and it took the animals a long time to realise that underneath he was actually quite frightened. He had been owned by an old sailor who treated him very badly. So he had flown away one day when his cage was accidentally left unlocked. But the animals did not find that out until later.

In the meantime, they were overwhelmed by his bright colours, and he seemed to know so much through having travelled all over the world with the sailor. They were also fed up with feeling miserable. So when Crackers said he knew how to get their voices back, they were happy to let him try.

“When you go to bed tonight, just leave your voices with me,” the parrot said. “I’ll scrub them with a special juice I know, and in the morning you’ll have them back as good as new.”

The animals were highly excited, and as they went to bed, they left their voices underneath Crackers’ perch. After they had fallen asleep, into the night he worked, muttering odd sounds to himself. “Cut up the long drink ... scruggle the dollop ... haul on the rynernecker ... skreek!” At last he flew off to sleep also.

When the animals woke in the morning, they were eager to try out their mended voices. But when they opened their mouths, what a commotion there was.

“That’s not my voice,” whoofed Bonny the sheep.

“Who’s that talking, it’s not me,” bleated Piano the cat.

“What have you done to me,” gobbled Mrs Moon, the cow.

“What’s happening – I sound terrible,” clucked Tip the dog.

“This is not my voice, it’s someone else’s,” mooed Peck the hen.

Crackers had given everybody back the wrong voice! Piano the cat had Bonny the sheep’s voice. When Porridge opened his mouth, he sounded like a rooster. Skiffle the rabbit was hopping miserably round the house quacking like a duck, while the ducks sounded very funny with the voice of Bremworth the goat. Have you ever heard a duck go bleat? Mrs Moon would not let anyone milk because she was so embarrassed. I’m not surprised. Anyone would be likely to laugh at a cow that gobbled like a turkey.

I suppose you could not blame Crackers entirely for being confused about who owned which voice. But the animals were very upset, and he would have lost a few tail feathers if Piano had caught him. He flew up into the rafters just in time.